15 Awesome Facts About The Sense Of Smell

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Smells can really go as far as opposite extremes. While a perfume can make you cool, a stinky fart can be quite shameful. Certain smells can make you happy, although some others can make you quite sad.

There is much more to it than a nose and a brain, let's see how amazing our sense of smell is!

#2

When we examine the sense of smell, we are faced with a sad truth that wouldn't embarrass Cicero: Our sense of smell, which is at its peak between the ages 20 and 35, starts gradually declining after 35. After 65, exceptions excluded, we aren't left with a keen sense of smell.

#3

Some scientists argue that all smells are neutral to begin with and that we define them strictly and classify them as negative or positive. This all depends on our mood when we first sensed that particular smell.

#4

The idea that perfumes smell differently on different women was the main marketing idea of a perfume brand in the 1950s. However, when it was obvious that women were more than ready to buy this idea, there wasn't much effort put into correcting this false belief.

#5

Indians have a distinct smell because of all the curry they eat. People living in the Eastern parts of the world consume lots of lamb meat which causes them to have another distinct smell that is sensed by those who don't consume that much lamb. It is basically the same story as the curry.

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#9

The sense of smell is the second fastest (sight being the first) sense when it comes to transmitting information to our brains. Smell also brushes up information, brings out memories, and causes us to relive them.

#10

When we have a passive lifestyle, we breathe 18,000 times per day; and 23,000 times if we are active. During these breathing instances, various smell molecules enter our nose from different smell sources.

#11

#12

We unconsciously pick a suitable partner for ourselves, who preferably has a different immune system, thanks to our sense of smell; so that the next generation will have a stronger immune system both thanks to this harmony and difference.

#13

Pigeons have one of the best noses among all bird species. Although there hasn't been much research on this, the hypothesis is that pigeons have an olfactive mental map of their surroundings and that they develop behavioral patterns according to this map.

#14

#15

The relationship between sexual attraction and smell was not only assumed in ancient cultures and far away lands; but also not too long ago and not too far away. According to a rumor, a behavior observed often in Shakespeare's England went like this: women used to put peeled apple skins in their armpits and walk around or dance for a while. Then, they gave these apple skins that already absorbed their body smell, to their lovers or suitors to express their desire or interest in these men. Before we forget, this scented apple was called 'love apple.'